The resistance thrives on inertia

A squirrel scurries out in front of your car, and stops half-way. This is worse thing he can do. Stopping increases the chance that he’ll get hit.

If he were smarter, he would have decided once that crossing the road was worth the risk and made a beeline for it.

Of course, this is the amygdala talking. Telling him, urging him, to back out once he’s started.

The thing is, we do this all the time.

We attempt something…and then we back out once our amygdala opens its mouth. Once we’re contronted with fear, we start to convince ourselves we can’t do it.

So we give up, we turn back, and we tell ourselves that trying was foolish. That we’re not that good. And that best thing we can do is backout.

Realizing that the voice in our head (and more appropriately in our bodies) isn’t us can be an powerful realization. Giving us the freedom to acknowledge that we have a choice over whether to push past the discomfort, or give up entirely.

Another insightful idea is that the amgydala thrives on inertia. Just like the squirrel, taking a break to reasses yourself only provokes it.

That if you decide half-way to actively listen to the voice in your head, of course you’re going to feel like giving up. Or if this is your first time at it, well then yes, you’re going to experience fear. There’s not a lot of reinforcing information to discredit your self-doubt.

Newton’s first law applies as much to physical objects as it does to psychological feelings. If you’ve got no momentum, how on earth do you expect to “go for it” and have no fear?

The alternative is to decide once if it’s worth leaning into a risk before you jump into it. To acknowledge that the way to suppress the fear is to find a way to live with it, to work with it, to run with it.

Otherwise you’re just giving it room to grow.